Fredericks Wiltshire Provides First Loan

Fredericks Wiltshire has enabled their first client, Peter Fitchett, to get his business - Absolute Rubbish - off the ground.

After leaving school, Peter temporarily worked at a pizza parlour before joining the British Army in 2000. When he left the Army in 2003, he had various jobs including sales manager at a motor cycle dealership.  Since his release he has worked as a ground worker and sales manager at a gym, and took evening classes, obtaining Level 2 Gym Instructors and Level 2 Sign Language Interpreters.

After being made redundant in 2009, Peter has been working on business plans to become a licensed waste carrier for both commercial and domestic waste. As part of this process he attended Business Link workshops and worked with The Prince’s Trust and hoped they would provide him with start-up capital. However, due to a change in their funding criteria, he had to look elsewhere and approached Fredericks Wiltshire.

Initially, Peter’s business will provide simple waste collection for households and commercial properties. Fredericks’ finance will be used to buy a small tipper truck and signage.

In the future, he is looking to further expand his business to provide additional services such as breaking up driveways, trimming hedges and trees, and taking away the waste.

Wiltshire Council, Swindon Borough Council and the private business organisation, GWE Business West, have provided Fredericks with funding and support to help the Foundation’s work in Swindon and Wiltshire.

Ian Larrard Director of GWE Business West’s Initiative in Swindon, said, “It’s fantastic that Fredericks Wiltshire has provided their first loan to help Peter Fitchett start his own business. It's been a challenging time over the last 18 months and any assistance that can be given to help start-ups or small businesses in Swindon and Wiltshire has got to be good.

“Peter has clearly prepared well for his new business and we wish him every success in his venture and look forward to many similar proposals coming forward."  

Charles Dodwell, CEO, Fredericks Foundation, said, “I am delighted to get the first successful business started in Swindon & Wiltshire. This has been a partnership approach which has worked well for the benefit of potential entrepreneurs who cannot access bank funding. We believe this is just the beginning of many more such business cases to come, and look forward to playing our part in creating employment and reducing benefit dependency in the area.”